BOARD MEETING DATE: May 5, 2006
AGENDA NO. 12

Appoint Members to AQMD Hearing Board

SYNOPSIS: 

The terms of office for the Hearing Board Attorney and Engineer Members, and their Alternates, expire June 30, 2006.  An Advisory Committee was appointed as required by law.  The Advisory Committee interviewed candidates and made its recommendation to the Administrative Committee.  This action is to appoint members to fill the expiring terms.

COMMITTEE:  

Administrative, April 14, 2006, Recommended for Approval

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Appoint to the AQMD Hearing Board, for a term July 1, 2006 – June 30, 2009: 
Laurine Tuleja as Attorney Member, Richard Ward as Alternate Attorney Member; Edward Camarena as Engineer Member, and Hong Xu as Alternate Engineer Member.

Barry R. Wallerstein, D.Env.
Executive Officer

Background

Health and Safety Code Section 40501.1(b) requires the AQMD to appoint a Hearing Board Advisory Committee composed of one representative appointed by each of the Counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino, and the City of Los Angeles. A highly qualified and distinguished group of individuals served on the Advisory Committee for this recruitment. They are:

The current Attorney Member, Laurine Tuleja, requested reappointment, as did the current Engineer Member, Edward Camarena, and Mr. Camarena’s alternate,
Michael K. Chang.

Based on the attached criteria developed by the Committee, the Committee members and selected AQMD staff (the Chief Financial Officer, the Assistant DEO of Public Affairs, and the Senior Policy Advisor) evaluated the applications and resumes submitted, ranked and grouped the individuals according to their scores.  Based on the ranking and Committee members’ evaluation of the applications/resumes, all of the following candidates were invited for interviews.

Attorney Member/Alternate             Engineer Member/Alternate

William Shibley                                Edward Camarena

Alan K. Stazer                                    Michael Chang

Laurine E. Tuleja                               Abbas Karbassioun

Richard Ward                                     Ali Lakhdar-Hamina

                                                            *David Martinez

                                                            Ashok Naimpally

                                                            Stanley Pinel

                                                            *Sharon Williams

                                                            Hong Xu

*Mr. Martinez and Ms. Williams cancelled/declined interviews.

Proposal

Appoint Laurine Tuleja as Attorney Member, Richard Ward as Alternate Attorney Member; Edward Camarena as Engineer Member, and Hong Xu as Alternate Engineer Member, each for a term commencing July 1, 2006 and ending June 30, 2009. A summary of the qualifications of each candidate is set forth below.  The evaluation committee recommended Ali Lakhdar-Hamina who is employed as an engineer at the Ventura Air Pollution Control District.  However, the Administrative Committee believes that it is more appropriate to select someone not currently employed at another Air Pollution Control District and who is not a resident outside of the South Coast AQMD.

Attorney Member

Laurine E. Tuleja – Ms. Tuleja has been the Attorney Member of the Hearing Board for nine years.  She graduated from Harvard University with an A.B. in History and Science, and attended Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley, receiving her J.D. in 1990.  Following law school, she spent a year as a law clerk to the Honorable Alfred T. Goodwin of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  Prior to joining the Hearing Board, she practiced environmental law for five and a half years in the Los Angeles office of Sidley & Austin.  Ms. Tuleja is an active member of the National Association of Hearing Officials where she serves as Conference Registrar, as an alternate Board Member, and as member of the Certification Committee.  She also served for five years as a member of the Legislation Committee of the California State Bar’s Environmental Law Section, which reviews and comments on proposed California environmental legislation.

Alternate Attorney Member

Richard J. Ward, Jr. – Mr. Ward has been a practicing lawyer for 41 years, specializing in intellectual property law, covering the span of patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets.  He has had the opportunity to prosecute a number of patents in the fields of automotive air and oil filters, gas turbine engines, water treatment controllers and engine emission control devices.  Mr. Ward also served for two years as a Special Master in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, handling numerous motions involving technical issues; and he has served on two occasions as an arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association.  Mr. Ward has an undergraduate degree of a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from St. Louis University, followed by a J.D. from the University of Southern California.  He is a member of the State Bar of California and admitted to practice in California State Courts as well as numerous Federal District and Appellate Courts throughout the country and the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Engineer Member

Edward Camarena – Mr. Camarena brings more than four and half decades of air pollution experience to the Hearing Board.  Prior to beginning his service on the Hearing Board in July 1994, he was Deputy Executive Officer for Operations for the AQMD where his responsibilities at various times included the engineering, permitting, enforcement, technical services, information systems, technology development and human resource programs.  In addition to his service on the Hearing Board,
Mr. Camarena also serves on the AQMD's  Budget Advisory Committee and has previously served on the Scientific Advisory and BACT Committees.  After thirty-three years with the AQMD, Mr. Camarena served as an air quality policy and technical consultant to the staff of the World Bank in Latin America, the Mexico City Commission for the Prevention and Control of Air Pollution and the Mexico City Transportation and Roads Commission.  Mr. Camarena's extensive work in Latin America underscores his ability to balance environmental objectives with economic realities.  Current affiliations include the National Association of Administrative Law Judges and the National Association of Hearing Officials.   Past affiliations include the California Air Pollution Control Officers Association, National Society of Professional Engineers, California Society of Professional Engineers, American Chemical Society, and the American Institute of Chemists.  He holds a B.A. in Chemistry from Occidental College,
Los Angeles and a Master of Science in Environmental Engineering from the University of California, Irvine.

Alternate Engineer Member

Hong Xu –  Ms. Xu is a chemical engineer, with ten years of industrial experience in various fields, primarily in research and development.  She obtained a Master’s degree from San Jose State University in 1998 and a Bachelor degree from Tsinghua University in China in 1991, both in Chemical Engineering.  Prior to coming to the U.S. in 1994,
Ms. Xu worked as a product development engineer for three years in the environmental division of Beijing Research Institute of Chemical Industry in China, where she had the opportunity to visit various chemical plants around the country to implement a new polymeric strategy for anti-scaling in industrial cooling and boiling water systems.  While working as an R& D engineer at IBM Alamden Research Center between 1998 and 2002, Ms. Xu invented an electroplating process for write heads using a metal alloy which was later implemented in the manufacturing process.  These achievements, recognized by three IBM Awards, have resulted in one U.S. patent and eight peer-reviewed publications.  

Fiscal Impacts

Sufficient funds are budgeted each year to compensate those who serve on the Hearing Board.

Attachments (EXE 47 K)
Qualifications for Attorney Member Position
Qualifications for Engineer Member Position
Board Letter